Amash is lone Republican to sign on to measure blocking Trump’s wall

U.S. President Donald Trump, with Speaker Nancy Pelosi and Vice President Mike Pence looking on, delivers the State of the Union address in the chamber of the U.S. House of Representatives on February 5, 2019 | Doug Mills, Pool/Getty Images

WASHINGTON — U.S. Rep. Justin Amash is the lone Republican who has joined a Democratic-led effort in the U.S. House to block President Trump’s attempt to circumvent Congress and secure funding for a wall along the southern U.S. border.

Justin Amash

A House resolution to block the White House’s effort was introduced Friday by U.S. Rep. Joaquin Castro (D-Texas). He’s got the backing of 226 or 227 House lawmakers, all of whom are Democrats — except Amash, who’s from Cascade Township and represents West Michigan.

On a conference call with reporters Friday, Castro accused Trump of attempting an “unconstitutional power grab” and taking “parasitic action” that will require “historic unity” by members of Congress to defeat.

The U.S. House is expected to vote on the resolution next week, Speaker Nancy Pelosi (D-Calif.) told reporters on the call. “We will pass the resolution in the House and send it over to the Senate,” she said. “We do not have a monarch. … The president is not above the law.”

Congress does have the power to end a national emergency declaration from a president, but it would likely mean mustering a veto-proof majority in both chambers — a steep climb in the Republican-controlled U.S. Senate.

Unlike many of his Republican colleagues, Amash has been a vocal critic of Trump’s declaration.

“I think it would be a huge mistake for him to [declare a national emergency] and it would be a massive executive overreach,” Amash told the Advance last month. “There’s no national emergency. Obviously, there are problems at the border, but to declare a national emergency — and assume all sorts of powers — would be way beyond what I think is authorized.”

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Michigan native Robin Bravender is the DC Bureau Chief for the Newsroom, a consortium of 10 nonprofit news publications, including the Michigan Advance. Previously, Robin was a reporter for Politico, E&E News and Thomson Reuters.